Dear management,
First, congratulations on your workers winning 2019 person of the year from The Daily Herald. Nice one, but we are only in February and I have to ask what happened?
On Tuesday, February 4, the American Airlines landed from Miami at 4:15. There was a group of about 10 or so Statians on board who were booked on the last flight to Statia. No problem there, as check-in starts at 4:20. There were other persons who had connecting flights too but that’s not the story here.
We get through security and are waiting on the luggage. Not sure if they were on a go-slow in the back but luggage started dribbling out 15 to 20 minutes later. One by one bags came out on the band, literally one by one.
Finally got the luggage, checked in and got through a security check. At immigration, there are two persons working. As if there was some secret signal, the gentleman from the KMar abruptly got up and just walked away leaving only the guy from St. Maarten to check passports for a line that was quite long.
The flight is called at 5:20pm. Passengers are waiting to go to the aircraft. The Winair agent goes to get a bus for the passengers and comes back in saying, “He says he is done working for the day.” They call for another bus. Bus driver #2 pulls up and as the agent is walking to the bus with us he shouts out, “I done, I done,” while making that universal sign of slashing motions across his throat.
Then a third bus pulls up as the passengers are still standing there. While the agent is inside for a minute, an agent for St. Barth’s commuter passes our group and boards the bus with his passengers. Bus driver number #2 calls out to our agent that she better take that bus if she knows what’s good for her because he is about to be done too.
Bus driver #3 waves us forward to share the bus as the St. Barths Commuter agent is telling us, “No, no, no, you can’t come in the bus.” Their flight has to leave before sunset.
We board anyway because the bus driver tells us to. An argument ensues upfront.
A French passenger also telling us we can’t come on the bus only started another argument. Never mind that they were dropped off at their plane first.
Now, as locals, we have experienced some shocking service but there were 7 or 8 tourists on the flight who must have been wondering wth?
But seriously, what is going on at that airport? Is nobody scheduled to work after 5:00pm? Is it that they are not given overtime or any time back? They were not just saying they can’t do it, they were being very rude about it. In front of passengers.
I understand nobody wants to work after their 8 hours are up but that was quite something to behold. Management needs to either do better scheduling or teach some of the workers what customer service is all about.
Some passengers, including myself, were travelling from 1:00 or 2:00 o’clock that morning and were really not in the mood for the drama and bad attitudes. Hats off to the Winair ladies for keeping it together and still smiling throughout.
A lady on the plane did remark that when the airport was still in the tents, service was top compared to this. I am still wondering what happened from last year to now?
J.L.A. Berkel
By Alex Rosaria
A large sector in our community was euphoric when the screening law (officially: National Ordinance Integrity (Candidate) Ministers) was published in October 2012. A collective sigh was heard because never again would we go through the embarrassment of 2010 when a group of ministers without any remorse have mocked the screening process.
But that was in 2012. Today some of these actors who applauded the screening law in 2012 are declaring that the law, suddenly, is not fair anymore. Difference between 2012 and 2019/20 is: the law which was good for those without ethics back then has ensured that two ministers of the current coalition had to resign (one has even recognized his punishable act in a deal with the Prosecution and has received probation).
Today they are talking about the unfairness of the law and that it is not complying with its true intention. Also, they are saying that the Netherlands does not have a screening law as we do. The latter is true. Maybe they forgot that we don’t have a number of laws like the Netherlands does (e.g. euthanasia, abortus, marriage, a high standard to protect the environment) and vice versa? If we want all the Dutch laws, then maybe it’s better to forget autonomy and become a province.
Our world has several examples of hypocrisy and thirst for power which makes politicians eliminate or change laws that were perfect for their opponents but not for them. One example is Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua who has fought to end the 45-year rule of the Somoza family through revolution and change of the constitution. Nowadays Ortega has eliminated, added laws and changed the constitution to allow him to remain in power for life accompanied by his vice president who is his wife.
In 2014 I fought against the elimination of the screening law like the actors who came to power in 2010 (and who were in the opposition between 2012 and 2016) wanted to do. I urged the government to broaden the law and add more to it, especially at the end of a minister’s term.
Now, it might be time, and even necessary, to change laws due to certain circumstances. But to bring change and weaken the screening law just because two ministers in the coalition had to resign, is not a valid reason. That is hypocrisy and against the rule of law. Those who want to change the law become just like those who were without remorse in 2010. There is no difference.
Alex David Rosaria (53) is a freelance consultant active in Asia and the Pacific. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America. He is from Curaçao and has an MBA from University of Iowa (USA).
Iguanas matters too. The rise of the Black Lives, White Lives and All Lives matter too movements has helped to raise awareness of the sanctity of every human life, regardless of race, colour, culture, socio-economic status, religion, sexual orientation, etcetera.
The narrative in recent times has shifted in many human relationships from one of toxic “you versus I” to one of inclusivity and accommodation. Lines of “otherness” in many instances that were once distinct, pitting one group against another, on the basis of acquired differences (wholly by accidents of birth) has been blurred.
As a species, we are approaching, albeit slowly, the realisation of our shared humanity and in the process we continue to hope for and envisage a moment sometime yonder when we will either by social and/or biological evolution divorce ourselves from the superficial importance we have accorded our existence.
This attitude of “humans come first” has propagated its fair share of harm and has been largely responsible for the carnage we have caused to befall members of our own species and other life forms. But are we really any more important than iguanas?
The iguanas of St. Maarten are an endangered species, meaning – they are on the brink of becoming non-existent, never to be seen again on the island. And this is so despite the humongous efforts of members of the St. Maarten Nature Foundation, animal activists and other pro-life individuals. Nevertheless, I am not sure if the battle to save these wonderful creatures will be won.
However, the question that can invite us to act collectively to reverse their impending doom is whether the battle can be won and what does that entail from us? I choose to err on the side of being optimistic that with greater sensitisation and awareness of who we are in relation to iguanas, we can at least provide some flicker of hope.
No iguana has an interest in crossing our busy roadways fully aware of its imminent fate, but it does so all the same because it lacks the consciousness to determine and undertake a safe course of action. It’s a dreadful, unpleasant and extremely sad sight to observe iguanas degutted on the roadways while humans continue to display a callous and disgusting disregard for their mangled bodies. A human life that meets the same fate under similar circumstances will almost always elicit and stir feelings of grief, sadness, lost etc. Why should it be any different with another life form whose very existence forms a part of the collective web of life which we are connected to and consciously or unconsciously depend on?
We are living in an era where money has become the single most important currency of value. The value of the environment, culture, animals, plants, morals, etcetera, has all been subordinated to the relentless pursuit of money. We are producing and consuming at an alarming rate not taking cognisance of the damage, some irreversible, that we are inflicting on other facets of life, all in the name of “progress”.
We are quick to dismiss intangibles, everything must be measurable, quantity over quality. Our selfish predisposition has forever etched in our minds the thought that we come first. We have granted ourselves the right to dominate and diminish the importance of other members of our own species, let alone iguanas.
Iguanas will continue to encroach upon our space, in some cases inadvertently getting killed or injured and in other cases violently hacked to death and dismembered. Their being in proximity to our abode should not be construed as a threat, justifying our quickness to terminate their lives. As a matter of fact, it’s the activities of man and not nature, as some are inclined to think, that are disrupting their habitats pushing them closer to cohabitate with us.
Iguanas have no business living among us, they lead more flourishing and natural lives when they are in their natural homes. One only has to visit an iguana’s sanctuary and you become instantly enthralled with the intricacies of their behaviour and personalities, tame, calm, aggressive, attentive, curious … they are free to be the creatures they have evolved to become, living harmoniously, something humans have hitherto been unable to accomplish collectively and which seems to be constantly eluding us in spite of our best efforts.
Our progress as a species appears to be fluctuating with increments of forward motion followed by prolonged reversals. It is known that every organism that has been imbued with the life force of nature is entirely at the whims and fancies of time and with time comes decay, aging and death. Implicitly this awareness is an equaliser which places us all on a level playing field performing different roles.
Human beings have been endowed or evolved (depends which side of the fence you are on) to augment and support the preservation of other forms of life whose capacity to adapt has declined over time for varying reasons. It is not wholly by chance that we are an ecological success, the only species that can survive almost anywhere on planet earth. This awareness oftentimes tempts us to succumb to the thought that we are inherently superior to other creatures and we commit the mistake thinking we are, by attributing meaning and thought to this observation which in itself is just what it is – pure observation.
The realisation that one of our roles is to protect and impact the lives of other species that are differently capable than us and whose roles are equally as important for maintaining equilibrium of our planet can help to bring about attitudinal change in our approach for the preservation of nature’s creatures.
Orlando Patterson
Dear Editor,
I would like to know if anyone is monitoring the cameras installed near the traffic lights at Prins Bernhard Bridge, because I saw two people run the red light in the past week alone, and I’m on the road so little that two in one week is statistically extremely high.
This total disregard for everyone’s safety (even the driver’s) cannot be allowed to continue. The result could have been deadly.
A camera clearly visible directly on the traffic light apparatus would serve as a better deterrent, once it’s known that running a red light has consequences.
Margaret Brooks
In February 2018, I got introduced to the, what I like to call, “towing mafia” of St. Maarten. Allegedly, my vehicle was parked at a wrong location in Philipsburg and I found myself going to the Police Station where I wanted to find out where my car was. The police were able to track my vehicle to a towing agency in Dutch Quarter, who used intimidating strategies to make me pay a 75-dollar towing fee. Under threat of a dog, I was explained that I could only pay in cash because “the machine was broken” and I did not receive a receipt. On top of that, the St. Maarten Police KPSM never provided me with a formal fine, only adding to the lack of transparency of this experience.
After multiple requests to the KPSM to provide me the evidence for why my vehicle was towed, I asked the Ombudsman for assistance. This eventually led to a hearing with the Deputy Chief of Police because never was the KPSM able to provide the requested evidence, nor were they able to provide me the legal or policy basis for how a towing process works. The sole documentation stating the processes of how cars are towed, was from January 2019.
During the hearing, it became clear that the KPSM, nor Government has contracts with towing agencies. Yet, they seem to be able to tow away vehicles as they please and make a business out of it. It is unclear why and how a specific company is allowed to take a vehicle while legal basis seems missing. When a vehicle gets damaged during the process, nobody can be held liable. The amount to be charged by a towing agency is not regulated. Moreover, there seems to be no tracking system of where the money actually goes. The towing mafia is probably not the only one making money on this scheme.
While I am still waiting to hear an apology or receive back the money I was forced to hand off, I would like to encourage everybody who got their vehicle towed before January 2019, to make an inquiry about their case. It is time to hold government and its public bodies accountable. Yearly elections do not seem to work. Perhaps inquiring on a mass level with specific public bodies will.
Humera Alam
